Quietly whimpered from Clyde***t is the announcement that they are selling off the trackbed of the Princes Pier branch from the Wemyss bay Line to the terminal. Anyone visiting inverclyde will notice the continual parade of HGVs laden with a container clogging up the main roads when they could easily be transported by rail. I thought that this line was part of scotlands future not to mention national strategic value( have a look at the press reports on Investment in the UK being centred on SE England).The terminal is the nearest UK deep water port to the East coast of the US.I and many others fear that they will close the terminal in favour of hunterston. Seems that there are many who believe that a couple of weeks of tall ships in the summer are all that the people of the area deserve.Part two of the bad news story is the closure of the Customs museum at Custom House Quay. as a consequence of the removal of customs jobs from the town.
British Railways Board closed and abandoned this track some years ago, at least according to past questions asked in Parliament.
Assuming this to be correct, then if Clydeport took this line over and gave it a few more years life and use, then surely they are to be congratulated, not kicked when the business dries up and their customers desert them. The customers are the problem. If they're not blazing a trail to Clydeport's door and demanding to use the track, they they can hardly be expected to keep paying the not inconsiderable cost of owning it.
Pity about the loss of another museum though, that's much more serious, and the story of the start of the 21st century seems to be one of more losses than gains in this area.
I'm increasingly amazed that many of the small, specialist museums are still around, especially as many rely not on admission fees as such, but ask only for donations.
Re the customs Museum, it is the first I have heard of it. Maybe they needed better publicity.
Regarding the railway line to Princes Pier most of the tracks were removed years ago due to lack of use and the bridge by the chapel was removed last year making the closure of the line rather permenant.
Ah, that makes it a bit clearer - please feel free to kick my soap box away
I thought it might have been a working line that was was being lost, the way the first post was worded, but I see I read more than was there as it appeared to cover current transport.
It's no wonder it's being sold if it's just a land asset. Most business are probably jealous of any others that have unused or redundant assets that can translated into cash at the moment, as the country races out of recession, with the first month of the year showing an absolutely massively huge and gigantic 0.1% growth in GDP - provided it is not just the result of someone sneezing while they worked out the niumbers
As for the Customs Museum, you probably have heard of it, but just not realised it. It appears fairly regularly, if not often, as a gimmick, because of the strange and odd artefacts it has on offer - the media loves it to have a bit of a laugh every so often by showing them.
It is always dragged out of obscurity whenever any Customs related offences take place in Scotland, and features in the media, both TV and press.
The latest mention seems to have been but a few week ago...
I think Greenock is lamenting the fact that with no chance of a rail link ever to Scotland's only Atlantic port is - apart from the current traffic problems with artics in the town - a sign of a possible black cloud sitting above the Greenock container terminal's long term future. It should be noted that although Greenock is the closest UK port to the eastern seaboard of North America Liverpool is not that many nautical miles further from it and the Mersey container port is about to be greatly expanded.
"Liverpool is planning a second container terminal to be built in the River Mersey at a cost of £100 million and able to simultaneously accommodate two of the new generation post-Panamax container ships. The new facility, capable of handling 500,000 teus a year, will almost double Liverpool's container capacity to nearly 1,500,000 teus."
Now where will (at least some of) the extra business come from?
Anyone interested in Greenock might be interested in the Alan Godfrey maps of the area. You don't see them in many bookshops, probably because there is little profit on them with the price being so low. There are two sheets for part of Greenock 1896, one Gourock 1912 and one Port Glasgow 1896.
The Rail link is mentioned in many Govt freight transport strategies over the recent past. The point about the rail people neglecting the line is correct and this would lead me to believe that the current owners have few options.However my own belief is that this relitively short line is of national importance in terms of possible future infrastructure.The terminal has indeed thrived under the current owners(I understand that it is the busiest timber port in Europe).Bridges can be replaced and tracks relayed.Look at the Alloa line for instance. Mothball the line until the anticipated economic upturn(Mrs Trafalgar is applauding my speech in the background ).To continue on the Pessamist direction the people of Greenock must think someone is Efter them .Mrs Trafalgar tells me that the Maternity Unit may again be under threat...she says that maybe they are thinking of closing Greenock down only to open it for a couple of weeks for the Tall ships.
Since Greenock Ocean terminal and Hunterston both belong to Clydeport/Peelports it is unlikely that the company will want to develope both. Huntterston has more room for expansion.
I cannot imagine anyone falling over themselves to rush and buy a couple of miles of tunnel plus a bit of extra track space.
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